Imagine you’re at a music festival. During the break, you want to get a drink at the bar. You try to attract the bartender’s attention, but he’s way too busy to help you. He apologizes a few times (we’re assuming it’s a nice bartender), telling you he’ll be right with you. After a while, you’ve had it. You’re missing out on the concert. So, you leave. Other potential customers follow your example. It’s the bar’s loss, really. You’ll get your drink elsewhere, right? And you’ll never know what makes this bar so special, because the bartender didn’t get a chance to show you. Once the bar owner finds out (if ever), it’s too late. He can’t track you down and ask if he can make things right. How to avoid a situation like this?
Actionable, reactive, and historical data: what do you need?
Let’s consider the average call center for a moment. We’ve stressed the importance of real-time information numerous times, but we’ll do it once more: if you know there’s an imminent problem now, you can take the necessary measures before it gets out of hand. The result: customer retention. But you need to work with the right type of data to adopt this approach.
Basically, there are three types of data:
• Actionable data (‘in real time’): the employee is on the phone with the customer and can solve issues as they occur
• Reactive data (‘right after the fact’): the employee learns they just missed a call
• Historical data (‘behind the times’): management reads a report of last week’s lost calls
Here’s the thing: when data is actionable, your customer is still a customer. With reactive data, you feel like running to jump on the train and watching it leave without you. And historical data represents lost calls. As you’ll never know who these customers were, you won’t be able to fix the problem. Too little, too late — that ship has sailed.
Obviously, your employees will thrive when they get to work with actionable data. Reactive data makes them unhappy, as they watch customers slip through their hands. Historical data makes for unhappy managers, as it basically shows their call center has failed.
Time for action!
The moral of the story: make sure your data is actionable! Want to know how? Please don’t hesitate to contact us. We’d be happy to perform a Quick Scan and discuss your Visual Management opportunities.